In April of 2013, Nefertiti Austin wrote an essay for us about her choice to adopt a son as a single black woman. Hers was one of our most popular posts, in part because of something she mentions in her essay: the lack of reporting on black single adoptive moms. It seemed our readership was […]
Love Quadrangles: Ciara, Future, Russell, and Co-Parenting While Dating.
This weekend, singer-dancer-model Ciara became the latest celebrity subject of single-mom scrutiny after a photo that surfaced of her, her one-year-old son Future, and her new beau, NFL quarterback Russell Wilson made its way to Hot 97 host Ebro’s Instagram account: The online debate hit its peak when T.I. weighed in on the Instagram post […]
BBM Revisits: Yasmine McMorrin
Spelman graduate and single mother Yasmine McMorrin made her writing debut on the Beyond Baby Mamas nearly two years ago in August 2013. Her first post, “The Sometimey Guilt of Single Motherhood,” about her experiences as a young mom and law student with an estranged co-parent remains one of the site’s most-read posts. She followed up with […]
What to Do When You See Unaccompanied Black Children in Public Spaces.
This weekend, a black single mother was arrested for leaving her 6-year-old daughter and two-year-old son sitting unaccompanied at a table in the food court of Memorial City Mall in Houston, TX. “My children weren’t even 30 yards away from me,” Laura Browder, a college student, wrote in a statement following her arrest. A potential employer scheduled a last-minute interview with her at the mall food court (the position itself was not located at the mall) and Browder was unable to secure childcare for her children in time for the meeting.
She decided to buy them a McDonald’s lunch and seat them within her view while she interviewed. An onlooker, seeing them unaccompanied, called police, claiming the children had been left alone and crying. When Browder went to retrieve her children, an officer approached her.
Browder has already appeared before a judge who ruled that she could maintain full custody of her children, but Child Protective Services is investigating the family. Local news affiliate KHOU says that CPS has also offered to help Browder, who is new to the Houston area, find suitable childcare for her children. Continue reading “What to Do When You See Unaccompanied Black Children in Public Spaces.”
Single-Mom Squad Goals.
When I started Beyond Baby Mamas in 2013, my daughter had just turned 3 and I was working part-time as an adjunct professor, trying to take my freelance writing career to the next level. I knew I wanted BBM to be an online support group for single mothers of color, and I thought I understood how […]
beyond baby mamas 